Friday, March 02, 2012

From 'Fair Go' to 'Tame Blow'

Reporters and other staff at TVNZ's long running and popular consumer affairs show Fair Go were recently instructed not to produce items that would offend advertisers, Labour claims.

TVNZ chairman Sir John Anderson and management appeared before Parliament's commerce committee this morning where Labour broadcasting spokeswoman Clare Curran sought and received assurances that the state owned commercial broadcaster placed high value on the integrity of its news and current affairs programming.

"How then can you explain reports that TVNZ head of programming called a meeting of Fair Go staff, including all reporters together in the last couple of weeks and instructed them not to produce programmes that would upset advertisers?" she asked.

When the Standard aren't bullying her for being a few class streams down from hanging out with them at the Kingslander, Curran is continuing to cause the Government grief over the Public Broadcasting front and she is landing some real blows now. From the appalling NZ on Air fiasco involving Key's electorate chair wanting censorship of political doco's that embarrass the Government over poverty (while funding doco's that make slow passionate love to Government reforms in education, health and Whanau Ora) to busting Craig Foss, Curran is one of the few in Labour who are even fighting at the moment.

With news that there is no last minute respite for TVNZ7, public broadcasting in NZ looks grimmer and grimmer. Telling Fair Go Journalists that they must be mindful of targeting clients is a dirty look for a show that has a special place in NZ media. Fair Go is considered the highest court in the land and limiting their scope to small fish cowboys and not any large corporate interests of the network is the type of influence you never want in the news room.

TVNZ's attempt at an explanation is as lead footed as their initial response to calls that Paul Henry was racist. Attempting to assure the public that such discussions were merely to enforce a sense of 'balance' is pressure regardless of how much candy TVNZ want to dump on this clear breach of editorial autonomy.

4 Comments:

It was inevitable that Fair Go would eventually suffer the fate of the Idiocracy that NZ is now becoming.

The dumbing down of TV cannot succeed under there is a "level playing field" of crass television.

Nothing must be done to wind up the viewer or upset advertisers. TV3's screening of the doco on Child Poverty practically sparked WWIII in this country. (Can't have inconvenient criticisms and questions being broadcast at election time, dammit!!!)

More than ever, we need a commercial-free TV channel, independent, with guaranteed funding that cannot be interfered with by right wing numbskulls.

This MUST be one of Labour-Green's priorities when they get back into government.

Fair Go is to TV what vegemite is to toast. Nobody in this country understands or cares about the mechanics of state censorship (except Bomber et al)they would rather believe that all is good - that is, until the announcers on the sports channels are speaking Mandarin.